Night of the Terminators
by MrBillyD
Summary: This is a Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Terminator Crossover Story. After two Terminators come to Sunnydale, looking for Dawn Summers, Buffy goes into the future, in an attempt to prevent any more from showing up.
1. Chapter 1

Night of the Terminators

Here a Terminator/Buffy Vampire Slayer story, in which two Terminators arrive from the future, looking for Dawn Summers.

I do not own any of these characters. They belong to the Produced the TV Series Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, and the Terminator Movies.

Night of the Terminators

By MrBillyD

1

The two stepped out of the Time Portal, into Sunnydale California, an hour after sunset. They stepped into a darkened parking lot, behind a strip mall, where all the stores had closed for the night.

He wore a zipped open, brown windbreaker jacket, over a light blue tee shirt, with the word "Skynet", printed across the chest, along with a pair of blue Levis and dark sneakers. She was dressed the same. He was clean-shaven. His neatly trimmed hair was short. Her hair hung to her shoulders.

They found themselves standing beside the bodies of two dead teenage girls, who were dressed in shorts and halters. They both had a pair of deep puncture wounds in their necks, and they'd been drained of blood.

The two from the Portal spoke in unison. "Vampires. Sunnydale is the Hellmouth."

They stepped out of the parking lot, into a quiet side street, which was dimly lit by lights at the corner with Main Street. Here in the shadows, they heard a woman cry out. The two looked toward the cry.

They saw a man in a leather jacket, holding a woman tight in his arms. She was also dressed in shorts and a halter. His mouth was against her neck.

The two from the Portal both whispered the words "Making out", in unison.

Then they saw that the man's fangs were chomped deep inside the woman's neck. He was sucking out her blood, and she was dying.

"Vampire." The two said in unison, "Sunnydale is the Hellmouth."

The vampire let go of the woman. She collapsed and lay dead at his feet.

The two walked up to the vampire.

"Good evening sir." They both harmonized. "We are Jack and Jackelyn."

The vampire was taken aback. "Good evening yourselves. I'm Warren."

The duet continued. "Was she Dawn Summers?"

"No way ho-say. Dawn Summer's the sister of the Slayer, and I am not suicidal. This woman's name was Amy something. She was a witch."

They both spoke in monotone. "We need to find a young woman named Dawn Summers. It is urgent."

"Urgent? Oh. I see. The one you're actually looking for is Buffy Summers."

"No we were sent to find Dawn Summers."

"Very well. Whatever urgent thing you could possibly have to tell her, you'll probably find her at the Bronze. It's a nightclub. Turn left at the corner, then go three blocks down, and you'll come right to it."

"Thank you. Good evening Warren. Good evening Amy Something."

Jack and Jackelyn stepped away from Warren and the body of Amy. They headed toward the corner. The vampire stood watching the pair's synchronized motions, until they turned the corner, and were gone from his sight.

"Amy," He said, "It's too bad you're too dead to see this."

The time was 8:30 PM on Saturday night in downtown Sunnydale. The young crowd inside the Bronze hung out, to the blare of recorded music, under the glaring colored lights. Others played pool. Some were seated at tables, or in booths under softer lights.

16 year old Dawn Summers came through the crowd, carrying four plastic cups, in a cardboard cup holder. She came to the booth where Xander Harris sat. The 21-year-old construction foreman looked over the sports section of the Sunnydale News.

Dawn put the cup holder down. She sat across the table from him, beside red haired, green-eyed Willow Rosenberg. Xander sat beside Anya, the Manager of the local magic shop, which was called the Magic Box. Willow was 21 years old. Anya was 1146, but she looked the same age as Willow. They were all casually dressed, except Anya, who still wore the modest blue business outfit, that she'd worn for work.

Dawn spoke with a light tone. "Loretta just told me, that she and Elaine and Gwen were attacked by vampires about an hour ago. Elaine and Gwen were both killed, but Loretta managed to escape." Her tone turned scornful. "They were in the parking lot behind the Laundromat at the strip mall. They'd gone out to pick up guys and get laid. They'd asked me to come along."

Xander asked, "What did you tell them?"

Dawn snapped. "What do you think I told them? I'm here and I'm alive, aren't I?"

"Good girl Dawn." said Anya. "See everyone. 'The wages of sin.'"

Willow spoke. "Buffy shouldn't only be patrolling the Cemetery. There's stuff going on all over Town."

Dawn snapped, "My sister's too busy screwing Spike in his crypt! That's her way of dealing with vampires. She either slays them or she lays them."

Xander folded the paper, and smiled at the High School Junior.

"So Dawnster." He asked, "How are things at our old Alma Mater, 'Hellmouth High'?"

"I'm joining the Girls Intramural Volleyball League."

Anya snorted in contempt. "Volleyball is such a wussy game."

Dawn got angry. "What do you mean 'wussy'?"

"I don't mean you're a wussy Dawn." Anya told her. "It's just that back in the Demon Realm, when I was a student at Beelzebub High, I played on the Girls Volleyhead Team."

Willow asked, "Volleyhead?"

"That's right; and since none of us knew, which one of our heads, would be getting knocked back and forth across the net, believe me, it was no game for wussies."

Dawn said, "Eeew."

Xander asked Dawn, "Anything else happening at Sunnydale High? Any spooky goings on?"

"Just Algebra." Then she said, "I wish the Hellmouth would open, and swallow Mr. Brinkman alive."

Now Anya perked up. "You do?"

"No!" Dawn panicked. "I didn't mean that!"

Xander warned, "Careful Anya."

"Okay!" she snapped. "Don't worry. Buffy and I worked it out. I, Anyanka the Wish Granting Vengeance Demon, has agreed not to grant any evil wishes here, within the borders of Sunnydale County."

Willow asked, "How'd she get you to agree to that?"

"How do you think? Vampires aren't the only demons, who the Vampire Slayer slays. Buffy kills us all."

Dawn said, "You mean?"

"What I mean is, that if a single cheating husband, just happens to change into a giant worm, anywhere in Sunnydale County, my head'll be the next one, that gets knocked back and forth, over a net."

The 16-year-old shuddered. Then she said "Eeew!"

Then she said, "But you're Buffy's friend."

Willow, the Sunnydale U. Co-ed spoke. "Doesn't matter Dawny. I'm her very best friend in the entire world, but if I perform one more act of evil witchcraft, your sister's the one, who'll be burning me at the stake."

Dawn again said, "Eeew!"

Now a casually dressed man and woman stood beside the table.

"Good evening." They spoke in unison. "We are Jack and Jackelyn. We are looking for Dawn Summers."

The four at the table looked at one another with confusion.

"Hi." Dawn spoke uneasily. "That's me."

"This is an unexpected problem." The synchronized pair harmonized, "You are more than a human being. You are pure green energy too."

"Oh!" Dawn threw up her hands. "Not again! I thought that was over with!"

Xander asked, "Is Glory coming back? Has she decided to have minions who look normal this time, but don't act that way?"

"What's going on?" Anya asked, "What kind of demons are you anyway?"

"We are not demons." The duet said, "We are as human as you."

Willow said, "That's not the way it sounds to us."

The pair harmonized. "We were looking for a human being, named Dawn Summers. We were not told that she is a mystical key to something."

Dawn spoke with an exhausted tone. "'The Key to Death and Hades.'"

Anya told them, "So if you want to avoid either of those things, you don't mess with Dawn;" she added sharply, "or us!"

The pair spoke. "We were not informed of this. We must return for further consultation. Thank you all."

Jack and Jackelyn stepped away from the booth, went through the crowd, and out the front door.

The synchronized pair returned the way they'd come, going back three blocks along Main Street, where they turned right, and went down the dark side street, passing the body of Amy, who remained where she'd been dropped by Warren. He was nowhere in sight.

They went into the parking lot, behind the closed for the night strip mall, passing the bodies of Elaine and Gwen, who remained untouched, where they'd been left by the vampires who'd killed them.

Then the two stepped through the Time Portal, into the atrium between their own time, and Sunnydale's time.

They both spoke. "We found Dawn Summers, but we could not kill her. We saw that she is more than human. She is pure green energy too. She is a mystical force.

"She claims to be 'The Key to Death and Hades.' We do not understand that."

The Computer's Voice spoke. "The title, 'Key to Death and Hades', comes from the human religious book, called the Bible. The first reference point is Revelation Chapter 1; Verse 8.

"Quote: 'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.' End quote.

"The second reference point is Revelation Chapter 1; Verses 17 and 18.

"Quote: 'I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades'. End quote.

"What that means, is that if the Almighty Lord God, holds the Key to death and Hades, the Key is a Holy Instrument. Therefore, if Dawn Summers is the Key to Death and Hades, she is a Holy Instrument. Any attempt to kill her, would lead to the death and damnation of any living being, who attempted to do so."

Jack and Jackelyn said, "We are not living beings. What would be the result of our killing her?"

"The gates of Hell would be unlocked. Every inhabitant of Hell, would be released upon the Earth. Humanity would perish from the Earth."

The two said, "That would be one generation earlier, than it began in our own time. We will now return, to where and when we found her; and complete the task we were given."

Jack and Jackelyn stepped out of the Atrium, back into the unlit parking lot behind the Laundromat in Sunnydale. They walked past the same dead young women, and headed toward the Bronze again.

Their synchronized strides took them past the Magic Box. The curtains were drawn shut, and the sign on the door said "Closed", but the shop was occupied. In the rear of the dimly lit establishment, the usual ancient manuscripts, describing supernatural phenomena, were piled high as always, on the old round wooden table. The manuscripts were being perused by Xander, Dawn and Anya.

Willow sat with them, perusing related material on her laptop.

"Usual Saturday night." she said.

"Right." Dawn joked, "If I wasn't involved with this stuff, I could be getting laid right now."

Anya added, "And getting dead too."

The 16-year-old sighed. "I'm probably gonna be the only girl in my class, who'll graduate a virgin."

Anya perked up. "Anyone want to take bets on that?"

"If anyone does," a woman's voice spoke sharply, "he or she won't survive to collect the winnings!"

That was Buffy. She'd entered through the back door.

"Just kidding Buff." Anya grinned sheepishly. "We weren't being serious."

The blonde haired Slayer stepped up to the table. She had mud and grass stains on her leather jacket and jeans.

Xander said, "Hey Buff. Had a rough night, dealing with the vampires, at the Cemetery?"

Dawn added, "Like Spike?"

Her big sister said, "Dawn!"

"That's how you deal with vampires Buffy. You either slay 'em or you lay 'em."

"Oh when we get home, I'm washing your mouth out with soap! Again!"

"Later people!" Willow said, "We might have something serious here."

Buffy asked, "How serious?"

"We're not sure. We're trying to find something about demons, whose movements are synchronized, and who speak in unison."

The Slayer was puzzled. "Are the Radio City Music Hall Rockets, demons?"

"No Buffy. Two people, who walk and talk in unison, showed up at the Bronze, about an hour ago. They were looking for Dawn. They knew she was the Key."

Buffy got serious. "Glory's not trying to make a comeback, is she?"

Xander said, "I don't think so. Those two were actually surprised, when they sensed the supernatural force inside of Dawn. They said they had to 'go back for further consultation'."

"They're not demons." Anya told them, "I know my own, and those two did not come from the bump in the night crowd. I saw their eyes. No supernatural force was there. I did however, detect a powerful, electro-magnetic force."

Buffy repeated, "Electro...?"

Xander exclaimed, "Robots!"

The Vengeance Demon grinned, "And the prize goes to the gentleman, with only a High School education, and no hope for any gainful employment, in the future."

Buffy said, "Warren. He's back to building robots again? Did they say what they wanted with Dawn?"

"No." Xander said, "But Warren built his first robot, so he could have a toy girl to play with. Then Spike hired him, to build the second robot to look like you, so that Spike could have one of his own to..."

Buffy shouted, "Don't say it Xander!"

Anya said, "Now robots three and four, are probably looking for Dawn, for a similar reason."

Dawn gagged. "Buffy!"

The Slayer said, "Do any of you have any idea where Warren is?"

They all shook their heads.

"Haven't seen him in months." Xander told her, "I haven't heard anything about him either."

"How about the robots?"

"I followed them," he told Buffy, "when they left the Bronze. They went up to Whedon Street, and then into the alley behind the Laundromat. I lost them there."

"Behind the Laundromat?"

Xander nodded, "It's one of the places, where Sunnydale vampires prefer to dine. When I arrived, the undead ones had already dined on Dawn's friends Elaine and Gwen. Oh, and Willow, by very careful, the next time you see your fellow wiccan Amy. She might want to show you her brand new pair of fangs."

"Amy?" Willow spoke sharply. "Buffy! You can't just patrol the Cemetery! The vamps are all over town!"

The Vampire Slayer sighed.

Then she said, "But Warren's perverted robots aren't. They were last spotted behind the Laundromat. Let's go Xander. I'd like you to come along too Willow."

Dawn asked, "What about me?"

"Stay here! You'll be safe with Anya!"

Buffy, Xander and Willow hurried out the door.

"'Stay here'." Dawn mocked, "'You'll be safe from robo perverts, and from healthy sex too.' This isn't a joke. I really am gonna graduate a virgin."

Anya smiled, "And a live one too."

"I hope they don't give me any award for it."

Jack and Jackelyn had returned to the Bronze. Different people were in the booth, where Dawn Summers and her friends had been seated. The synchronized two scanned all the faces in the place, but Dawn and her friends were gone.

Then they began asking around in unison. "Would you happen to know where Dawn Summers went?"

Someone told them, "You know, you two do that really well. Where are you performing?"

A high school boy named Jonathan told them, "I saw them going into the Magic Box. It's a magic shop. It's just up the street to the right."

Then Jack and Jackelyn left the Bronze, and were nearing the Magic Box, when the front door opened.

Buffy, Xander and Willow emerged. Xander pointed at the approaching pair. He, the witch and the Slayer halted and faced them. Buffy took two steps forward, and stood waiting for the two, with her hands on her hips.

The synchronized duo stepped up to her and halted.

She demanded, "What business do you glorified i-pods, have with my sister Dawn?"

"We have come from the future." They harmonized. "Where humans like you are approaching total annihilation, at the hands of we cyborg beings. Dawn Summers is the ancestress, of the Leader of the final few human Rebels, whose ceaseless harassment, hinders all our activities."

Buffy said, "Dawn's an ancestress?"

"She must be terminated now, along with all of you, to prevent his birth."

The robots reached inside their zipped open jackets, and drew out laser pistols. Buffy moved quick. She kicked Jack in the chest, but he did not move. The Slayer fell to the ground. He aimed his weapon at her.

Jackelyn jumped forward. She flailed with her pistol, smacking Xander and Willow to the ground. Then she stood back, and pointed the weapon at both of them.

The door to the Magic Box opened. Dawn and Anya stood in the doorway.

Jack aimed his weapon at Dawn.

Willow the witch conjured, shouting, "Fields of shields!"

Jack and Jackelyn's fingers were on the triggers of their weapons.

Then the conjuring witch shouted, "Reflection-deflection!"

Jack blasted a glowing red laser ray at Dawn; while Jackelyn shot laser rays at Buffy, Willow and Xander.

The laser blasts hit the supernatural barriers, which Willow had conjured, between them and their attackers. The laser rays reflected backward, onto Jack and Jackelyn.

The two robots shook, while snapping, crackling and popping sounds came from inside their shells. Then they both collapsed to the sidewalk. Jackelyn's head broke off, with a discharge of sparks.

Then the two stopped shaking, and lay limp on the pavement.

Buffy, Xander and Willow got to their feet.

Dawn and Anya stepped outside. Dawn began to move toward the robots.

"Don't go near them!" Xander warned, "They might still be electrically charged!"

Dawn halted.

Then she asked, "So what was this all about?"

Buffy said, "They came from the future, to kill you Dawn. They said they'd been sent to assassinate the 'ancestress' of a future hero, so he would never be born."

Dawn said, "I'm a hero's 'ancestress'?"

Anya grinned, "That's great Dawny. That means you're not gonna die a virgin."

Dawn rolled her eyes, and groaned in annoyance.

Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Willow, went back inside the Magic Box with Anya. They again gathered around the table in the rear of the shop.

"Robots?" Buffy spoke to them, "They said they were from the future, but I'm still wondering about..."

Anya said, "Warren?"

"No." The Slayer shook her head. "He builds robot girls to play with. Not assassins. I know that's gross; but why would he send someone to kill Dawn?"

"Competition?" Anya speculated. "Maybe he's building a group of robot rent-a-girls, and he's trying to eliminate the competition."

Dawn snapped, "What do you mean, calling me 'competition', for robot hookers?"

"Easy Dawn! I was just speculating; and that speculation doesn't make any sense at all."

"I'm glad you said that."

Now Xander spoke, "This is a real puzzle. I can't think of any logical reason that Warren would have to kill Dawn. I know he's weird, but not in that way."

Then Willow said, "Maybe he built them for somebody else."

Buffy asked, "Like who?"

"Aren't we forgetting the obvious? This town's full of vampires, and everything else that goes bump in the night; and every one of them, is too afraid of going bump against you Buffy; so they've gone for automation, but that doesn't explain why they'd target Dawn, instead of you?"

Then the Slayer said, "That's something, I'd like to have a little talk with Warren about."

"Good idea," Anya said, "though it's probably a waste of time. There is something Buffy, that you haven't considered, and it's staring you right in the face."

"Oh? And what have I overlooked?"

"That they might have been telling the truth."

"That they've come from the future?"

"All men are liars Buffy," She glared at Xander, who looked away from her. "But robots aren't men. They don't have egos. They have no reason to lie."

"But how do I deal with the future? The present is hard enough. Figuring how to handle today, takes all the energy I have. Besides, how can you know for certain, about what hasn't happened yet?"

"Look around you Buff." Willow chuckled, as she waved her hand at all the magical paraphernalia, on the shelves of the Magic Box. "You're in Soothsayer's Central."

"Soothsayers?" Buffy said, "Tell me Willow. Oh say, can you sooth?"

The witch smiled, "'Ouija board'. Magic crystals. Tarot cards. Some things familiar. Some things peculiar. Some things for everyone. The future starts today."

"No way!" Xander said, "Forget it Willow. Every time you or Anya start playing with magic, something goes wrong, and all hell breaks loose. Remember Olaf? The giant trol who Anya used to date?"

"Hey!" Anya shouted. "That was none of my doing! It was all Willow's fault!"

Willow said, "That wouldn't have happened, if you'd just kept your mouth shut!"

Now Buffy shouted, "I don't want to hear it! Forget about magic. We'll try to think of some other way."

Buffy walked over to the round wooden table, and sat down with a sigh.

Then she said, "I just wish I could go into the future myself, and find out what's really going on there."

Anyanka, the Wish Granting Vengeance Demon asked, "Is that what you really wish, Buffy?"

Willow, Xander and Dawn all looked at Anya with fear.

Buffy stood up. "Don't start playing your games with me Anya!"

"It's okay Buffy. I'm not playing. It's just that if you really do mean it, you know I can do it for you."

"No. I'll find some other way."

Buffy sat back down, and reached for one of the ancient texts. Then she pulled her hand back.

She said, "These books can't tell me anything I want to know, about robots from the future; or anything definite about the future."

Xander said, "Well we have to learn something, before the next ones show up."

Dawn said, "The next ones?"

He nodded. "Tonight was only round one."

Buffy stood up and walked over to Anya, who stood behind the counter.

"Can you do it Anya? Can you send me into the future, and bring me back?"

"Yes Buffy. You know what I can do."

"If you do send me to the future, I want you coming with me."

"Come with you?"

"I know that your wish fulfillments always have some nasty tricks in them."

"You mean that after everything we've been through together, you still don't trust me? Do you think I'd try to harm you Buffy?"

"I think you're still a demon Anya. So that's why I want you coming with me into the future and back. What happens to me happens to you."

"Fair enough."

"No Buffy!" Dawn warned.

She said, "Xander! Willow! Watch after Dawn!"

Anya said, "Watch after the Shop!"

Then Buffy said, "All right Anyanka. Grant me my wish."

Anya said, "So you have wished it; so shall it be done."

Then she and Buffy were gone from the Magic Box.

Around 2:30 in the morning, Jack opened his eyes. He looked around. He was lying where he fell, outside the door to the Magic Box. The street was deserted. He saw his partner's body lying beside him, with her head about two feet away from her torso.

He sat up. His memory was damaged.

"Dawn Summers." He said, "We are bringing her head."

He got to his feet, walked over to Jackelyn and picked up her head.

"Dawn Summers." He said, "We are bringing her head."

The disoriented robot limped away from her body.

He kept repeating, "We are bringing her head."

He turned the corner and went down the side street, passing the body of Amy, who now had a sharp wooden stake buried deep in her heart, and sticking out from between her breasts.

He told her, "We are bringing her head."

He went into the parking lot behind the Laundromat, where Elaine and Gwen now had sharp wooden stakes buried deep in their hearts, and sticking out from between their breasts too.

He told them, "We are bringing her head."

Jack stepped into the Time Portal, holding Jackelyn's head, and he stood in the Atrium.

The Computer asked, "Is Dawn Summers dead?"

"We are bringing her head."

Then Jack stepped through the Atrium's other gate, into the time they had come from; carrying Jackelyn's head in his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

2

Buffy and Anya found themselves standing in daylight, on the sidewalk outside the Magic Box. They stood beside a tree, which had been a sapling, but now its trunk was thick and it's branches rose high above the street, casting its shade on Anya, Buffy, the sidewalk and the Shop.

Buffy was still dressed in her grass and mud stained windbreaker jacket, jeans and sneakers. Anya wore her modest blue shop keeper's dress. Each woman carried her own handbag.

The Magic Box was shut down. Its door and windows were boarded up. Every shop along Main Street was also shut down. No cars were parked, and none came driving along. No auto engine was heard. All the parking meters were rusted, and their bubbles frosted over. Plants grew through cracks in the sidewalk, and out in the street.

"You've done it Anya." Buffy said, "We've come to the future. The future Sunnydale is a ghost town."

"No." said the demon. "There are no ghosts here. I don't sense the presence of any being, living or undead, natural or supernatural. Sunnydale is a void zone."

"Well I'd like to know where everybody went."

Anya asked, "Is that what you wish?"

"Yes Anya. I wish to be where people are."

"So you have wished it, so shall it be done."

In a moment, the two were seated in the grandstand of a Sports Stadium, surrounded by a screaming crowd of 50,000 Spectators, watching two teams of 500 armed men and women gladiators, fighting to the death down on the field. More than 100 lay dead in puddles of blood, and no one was holding back.

Anya was ecstatic. "Oh this is wonderful! Oh Buffy! I haven't been to a genuine massacre, since I left the Demon Realm! I love being in this time period! No wussy sports here!"

Buffy grinned, "I'm glad you're glad Anyanka. It's just that I need to find out something about those robots."

"Oh, can't you at least wait 'til half-time, or whatever they call it?"

"Right. No rush. It's just that while were sitting here, people back in our time, might be dealing the next round of robots; and they won't be as easy as to fight as those first two."

"I know; but...but, do you hear the way she's screaming, while he's impaling her?"

"Listen. I understand that this is heaven for you demons..."

"Buffy. When we return, it'll be only one minute after we left."

"One minute? Okay then. I see what you mean. Who likes a good fight more than me? And that guy's a hunk. Let's see if we can get some burgers, fries and a couple of shakes."

"You two!" A strong male voice came from their left. "You two female humans!"

An usher was pointing at Buffy and Anya.

He demanded, "What are doing sitting in the Cyborg Section?"

Buffy said, "Cyborg?"

She looked at the spectators sitting around her and Anya. The men were all dressed the same, in gray pants and tee shirts, with the name Skynet printed across the chest. They all had the exact same face, and the exact same build. The women were also dressed in gray skirts and Skynet tee shirts, and their faces and figures, were duplicates.

Each gladiator down on the field had a different body and face.

Anya said softly, "Everyone here looks like the two who came after Dawn."

Buffy spoke to the usher, who had the same features as everyone else around them.

"I'm sorry sir. We didn't realize we were in the wrong section."

"Let me see your tickets."

"Tickets?"

"Okay! Both of you out of this Stadium! Now!"

Buffy stood up. "Okay Anya. It's time to leave."

"But can't we get tickets to the Human Section?"

Buffy bent down, and whispered to Anya. "Isn't it obvious? There is no seating in the Human Section. The Human Section is out on the field."

"Right! Okay! Let's go!"

As she and Anya descended the steps, accompanied by the usher, Buffy saw that everyone seated on the right had duplicate features. The features of those on the left were different from those on the right, but each one in that group looked the same.

A few minutes later, the two from Sunnydale, were both outside the gate to Skynet Stadium, in a City of glass and steel skyscrapers, all of uniform height, and design. Groups of duplicated people walked around them, moving with synchronized motions. Cars of uniform design drove by.

"Anya." Buffy said, "I now wish to learn about the robots, who came after Dawn."

"So do I Buff. So you have wished it; so shall it be done."

In a moment, the two of them were standing outside the main entrance to a downtown skyscraper, with a sign out front identifying it as SKYNET CORP.

Here, there were also groups of duplicate people, and vehicles of uniform design driving by.

A male voice spoke over an amplifier, above the building's main entrance.

"Greetings! Miss Buffy Summers, and Miss Anyanka Vengeance Demon! Welcome to Skynet Corporation! Please come inside! We have been expecting you!"

Anya asked, "Do you wish you could go back to our own time right now?"

"Not until they've answered my questions."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that."

Buffy and Anya entered the building. Just inside the entrance, a large Cyborg guard stopped them. He went over them with an electronic baton, and checked through their handbags. He removed a sharp wooden stake from Buffy's bag, and put it on a shelf, behind his desk. Then he handed her a numbered card.

The Guard said, "Your vampire fighting weapon, will be returned to you, when you leave the building. I have been instructed to tell you to take elevator number twenty-two, to floor number five zero. Once you reach floor number five zero, you are to walk straight ahead, along the corridor, until you come to the double doors, at the opposite end of the corridor."

Buffy and Anya headed across the Lobby, among many duplicate looking people, who looked at them without emotion. They never show emotion, Buffy thought. Even during the gladiator game, they made the sounds of shouting, but she'd seen no emotions.

They boarded elevator 22, and rode it up to the fiftieth floor. Then they stepped into a deserted corridor, with many unopened doors along both sides. The two moved straight down the corridor, under a line of florescent lights, hearing muted sounds coming from behind the doors; all of which remained unopened.

When they reached the far end of the corridor, the double doors slid open sideways. Buffy and Anya stepped through the doorway, into a plushly furnished office, with thick carpeting, thickly padded chairs and sofas, a large mahogany desk; and artwork hung on dark paneled walls. There was no window. Then the doors slid shut behind them.

A male, human voice spoke through an intercom on the desk.

"Welcome Buffy. Welcome Anya. It's good to see you again, after all these years."

Buffy said, "That voice. I recognize it."

Anya nodded, "He sounds like..."

A door opened in the wall to their right. A youthful man stepped out, dressed in an expensively tailored dark suit.

Anya finished saying, "Warren Mears."

He said, "The very same one you knew back in Sunnydale. In the flesh, ladies."

Anya said, "Flesh that hasn't aged."

"He's a vampire. Right Warren?"

"Right Buffy. I now have fangs, but your sharp wooden stake has been confiscated."

"Are you gonna kill me now? Or try to?"

"No. Not at all. I have no reason to."

He moved over to the desk and sat behind it, in the plush swivel chair.

"As long as I stay seated here," he said, "and you two stay where you are, there'll be no reason, for anyone to get hurt."

Buffy said, "You were expecting us."

"We've known you were coming, ever since the two of you disappeared from Sunnydale, and were never seen again."

Anya repeated, "Never seen again?"

"That was about one month," he said, "before my partner and I founded Skynet Corporation, the manufacturer of every Cyborg that you've seen since you arrived from your own time."

Buffy asked, "Your partner?"

Warren spoke into the intercom. "You can come in here now, please."

The door to the right opened again. A woman around Buffy's age entered the office, wearing a chic, blue business outfit, with matching shoes. Her hair was set in a stylish coiffeur.

He said, "Buffy. Anya. This is my wife."

She said, "Good afternoon Buffy."

The Slayer nodded, "Hello Amy."

Anya said, "He's made a robot, Stepford wife?"

"No." said Buffy. "She's a vampire too."

"Wait a minute." Anya told Amy, "The last time I saw you, you had a sharp wooden stake, sticking out between your boobs. Buffy'd drove it right through your heart."

Anya nodded, "She thought it would keep me from becoming a vampire."

Warren's wife went over to the desk, stood beside him and smirked. "There was one thing you didn't realize Buffy. Your friend Willow, wasn't the only powerful witch in Sunnydale. It'll take more, than a popped open heart, to put an end to me."

"Right." Anya said, "She should have set you on fire too."

"So Warren." Buffy said, "What have you done with your unlife? You've gone from being a weirdo, who built toy girls to play with, into being what?"

"The CEO of Skynet Corporation, who's Cyborgs are running the world."

He patted Amy on the hand. "I couldn't have done it without her."

She smiled sweetly at him.

"She's the one with the great business sense. I've always been in charge of the manufacturing, while she's run the business side of the Company."

Buffy added, "Which includes the world?"

"No." Amy said, "But the ones who do run the Government, were manufactured by us."

Now Anya spoke. "Well if you're so almighty powerful, why'd you send assassins back into our time, to kill her sister Dawn? They said it was to prevent her, from becoming the ancestress, to a leader of your opposition."

Warren told her, "That was a Government decision. Sending the Terminators had nothing to do with us."

"Except that you manufactured whoever, or whatever, sent them."

"It's like anything else that's manufactured." Amy told them, "The way it's used, is entirely up to the purchaser."

"I see." Buffy spoke. "I've heard everything I need to know. Now I know what I have to do."

Warren said, "You mean go back to your own time, so you can kill Amy and me, before we can get Skynet Corp. off the ground?"

"That's the general idea. Pre-emptive strike.

"Anya." Buffy said, "I wish for you and I to return to our own time and place now."

The demon Anyanka said, "So you have wished it; so shall it be done."

Then Anya vanished from their sight.

Buffy remained in the office, alone with Warren and Amy.

"I'm still here?"

Amy said, "I'm an even more powerful witch now Buffy, than I was back in Sunnydale. I just blocked your part of the Vengeance Demon's spell. You didn't think we'd allow you to go back to your own time and kill us, did you?"

"If I don't. Anyanka will."

Warren said, "She will try. Her head was found impaled on a stake about one week after you both disappeared. People kept on searching, but they never found your head."

The two of them got up from the desk, and headed toward the door on the right.

Amy said, "So have a good day Buffy. It was nice seeing you again."

"What?" Buffy was confused. "You mean I'm stuck here, in your robot governed world?"

Warren said, "I'm sure that shouldn't be a problem for someone with your talents Miss Summers. You're a Slayer, and at Skynet Stadium, they're always on the lookout for bloodthirsty warriors. Their gladiators get paid very well, and there's always a big employee turnover."

Then he and Amy stepped through the doorway on the right, and the door shut behind them.

The double doors behind Buffy parted, and slid open sideways.

Buffy felt dazed as she returned the way she'd come, going along the corridor, past the long line of unopened doors; and down the elevator to the lobby, where she picked up her sharp wooden stake, put it back in her handbag, and stepped outside, into the warm sunlight.

She looked around, at the thousands of duplicate Cyborgs, who couldn't be staked, at the uniform cars, and the uniform skyscrapers.

I'm lost! She thought, Do I go right, left or straight ahead? Go to where? To get something to eat. Can a human being get anything to eat in this Cyborg City? Warren and Amy eat. They're vampires. It's human blood for them. They need live humans to supply their nourishment. The only live human beings I've seen in this City were the gladiators.

Maybe I do have to become a gladiator. How do you get to the Stadium from here? Is the Stadium in this City?

Then the Vampire Slayer spoke softly. "Anyanka." she said, "If you can hear me, I wish to return to my own time and place now."

In a moment, Buffy was standing in the dark, on a side street in Sunnydale. Up at the corner, traffic was going by, under the arc lights on Main Street, but where she was standing, on the west side of Whedon Street, there were only shadows.

She thought, I'm back.

She saw two figures moving in the dark, across the street, in the parking lot behind the strip mall. Their movements were synchronized. They were Jack and Jackelyn. They stepped out of the parking lot, across the street from Buffy, when she heard a woman cry out.

She and the unison pair looked toward the cry.

In the dark, Buffy saw Warren holding Amy tight in his arms, with his fangs sunk deep in her neck, and she was dying. Then he let her go, and she fell dead at his feet.

Then Jack and Jackelyn came over to Warren, and spoke with him for a moment. He pointed toward Main Street. They headed where he'd pointed, with synchronized strides, and turned at the corner to their left.

Buffy had moved through the darkness, taken the sharp wooden stake out of her handbag, and come up near Warren, unnoticed by him.

She heard him say, "Amy. It's too bad you're too dead to see this."

"Warren."

He turned, and saw Buffy standing beside him, holding the stake.

He said, "Slayer?"

"Warren." She said, "It's too bad, that you and Amy, are gonna be too dead to see your wedding day."

Then she rammed the stake into Warren's heart, and he exploded into a cloud of dust.

Buffy choked and coughed on some of the dust, and she fanned it away with her hand. Then she knelt beside Amy, who lay sprawled on her back, and raised the stake again.

"Sorry Amy. Can't take a chance, on whatever company you might end up running. Who knows what your customers might do, with whatever you produce?"

Then she rammed the stake into the dead woman's heart. Amy did not explode into dust.

Buffy then removed the stake and said, "I just don't happen to have a gas can with me at this moment, so this'll have to do for now."

The Slayer reached through the wound, grabbed the witch's heart, and ripped it out of her chest.

She said, "I would've been a terrific gladiator."

Buffy rose up to her full height, walked over to a dumpster in the strip mall's parking lot, lifted the lid, and tossed the heart inside.

She shut the lid and said, "It feels great to be back home."

Buffy went to the corner, turned left and looked for the Terminators. She did not see them. She hurried down the street to the Bronze, and went inside. The robots were not here; but Anya was, so was Dawn, Xander and Willow, all sharing the same booth.

Willow was saying, "Doesn't matter Dawny. I'm her very best friend in the entire world, but if I perform one more act of evil witchcraft, your sister's the one, who'll be burning me at the stake."

The blonde haired Slayer stepped up to the table. Her leather jacket and jeans were caked with vampire dust.

She told Willow, "If you're planning to perform any tonight, you'll have to take a number, for the burning."

Anya said, "Hi Buffy. How things going?"

Xander said, "Hey Buff. Had a rough night, dealing with vampires, at the Cemetery?"

"Yes Xander; and with robots from the future too."

They all looked puzzled.

Anya asked, "Robots from the future?"

"Listen everyone." She told them, "I have seen the future, and it's not gonna work."


End file.
